What is Carnitine?

About Carnitine:

• Carnitine, derived from an amino acid, is the generic term for several compounds, including L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine, and propionyl-L-carnitine.
• It is naturally present in many foods—especially foods of animal origin—and is available as a dietary supplement.
• Human body produces it in the liver and kidneys and stores it in the skeletal muscles, heart and brain.
• About 95% of total body carnitine is stored in heart and skeletal muscle.
• Importance:
  • It is a substance that helps the body turn fat into energy. It is an essential cofactor that helps transport long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria so that they can be oxidized to produce energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
  • It is important for heart and brain function, muscle movement, and many other body processes. 
  • It also helps transport some toxic compounds out of the mitochondria.
  • It has been proposed as a treatment for many conditions because it acts as an antioxidant. 

Q1) What is amino acid?

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Proteins are long chains of amino acids. Your body has thousands of different proteins that each have important jobs. Each protein has its own sequence of amino acids.

Source: Researchers suggest way of mapping distribution of carnitine in skeletal muscle cells

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